Fan impeller balance calibrating method

ABSTRACT

A fan impeller balance calibrating method includes steps of: placing a fan impeller onto a measurement platform, the measurement platform having a controller, a speedometer device and a detection device being arranged on the measurement platform for detecting the rotational speed and balance of the fan impeller respectively, the controller receiving data from the speedometer device and the detection device to calculate and generate a detection signal to the measurement platform, according to the received detection signal, the measurement platform displaying calibration data and rotational speed data; and adding at least one weight body to the fan impeller or removing at least one weight body from the fan impeller according to the calibration data to quickly calibrate the balance of the fan impeller. The fan impeller balance calibrating method is advantageous in that the balance calibration time is shortened and the calibration process is simplified.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a fan impeller balancecalibrating method, and more particularly to a fan impeller balancecalibrating method in which according to calibration data, at least oneweight body is added to the fan impeller or at least one weight body isremoved from the fan impeller to quickly calibrate the balance of thefan impeller.

2. Description of the Related Art

Along with the rapid development of high-tech industries, the functionsof various electronic products have become more and more powerful. As aresult, the electronic components inbuilt in the electronic productsgenerate a great amount of waste heat in operation. In general, it isnecessary to dispose a heat sink or a radiating fin assembly on theelectronic component to increase heat dissipation area for enhancingheat dissipation effect. However, the heat sink or radiating finassembly can dissipate the heat only by means of radiation so that theheat dissipation effect is limited. Therefore, it is necessary toadditionally dispose a cooling fan to carry away the heat of the heatsink or radiating fin assembly so as to enhance the heat dissipationperformance. Accordingly, the cooling fan is a very important componentof the thermal module. However, in operation, the cooling fan oftenmakes loud noise or severely vibrates due to some external factors orthe affection of its own structural design. In this case, the workingstability of the electronic component (such as the hard disk) will beaffected. Therefore, in manufacturing, it is necessary to calibrate thebalance of the fan impeller to increase the ratio of good products.

In the conventional dynamic balance test of the fan impeller, in thecase that the fan impeller is unbalanced on one side, a balancing weightis added to the side or removed from the side and then the dynamicbalance test of the fan impeller is again performed. Such balance testprocess is repeatedly performed until the fan impeller is completelybalanced. Alternatively, the fan impeller is drilled to calibrate thebalance of the fan impeller.

By means of the above method, the balance of the fan impeller can beachieved. However, in the test, it is necessary to add the balancingweight to or remove the balancing weight from the fan impeller tocalibrate the balance of the fan impeller. After a long period of use,the balancing weight added to the fan impeller is likely to detach fromthe fan impeller to deteriorate the balance thereof. This will greatlyshorten the lifetime of the fan and make noise as well as causevibration of the fan. Furthermore, the calibration process must berepeatedly performed. This is time-consuming and complicated. In thecase that the fan impeller is drilled to remove a part of the fanimpeller for achieving the balance, the drilled part of the fan impellerwill be structurally weakened and the stress will concentrate on theweakened part. Under such circumstance, the structure of the fanimpeller will be destroyed to shorten the lifetime of the fan. Accordingto the above, the conventional fan impeller balance calibrating methodhas the following shortcomings:

-   -   1. The balancing weight is likely to detach from the fan        impeller to make noise and cause vibration of the fan.    -   2. The lifetime of the fan is greatly shortened.    -   3. The structure of the fan impeller is destroyed.    -   4. The calibrating process is complicated.    -   5. The calibrating process is time-consuming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide afan impeller balance calibrating method in which according tocalibration data, at least one weight body is added to the fan impelleror at least one weight body is removed from the fan impeller to quicklycalibrate the balance of the fan impeller.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the above fanimpeller balance calibrating method in which the balance calibrationtime is shortened.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide theabove fan impeller balance calibrating method in which the calibrationprocess is simplified.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide theabove fan impeller balance calibrating method, which can achieve thebalance of the fan impeller without destroying the structure of the fanimpeller. Therefore, the lifetime of the fan is prolonged.

To achieve the above and other objects, the fan impeller balancecalibrating method of the present invention includes steps of: placing afan impeller onto a measurement platform, the measurement platformhaving a controller, a speedometer device and a detection device beingarranged on the measurement platform for detecting the rotational speedand balance of the fan impeller respectively, the controller receivingdata from the speedometer device and the detection device to calculateand generate a detection signal to the measurement platform, accordingto the received detection signal, the measurement platform displayingcalibration data and rotational speed data; and adding at least oneweight body to the fan impeller or removing at least one weight bodyfrom the fan impeller according to the calibration data to quicklycalibrate the balance of the fan impeller.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The structure and the technical means adopted by the present inventionto achieve the above and other objects can be best understood byreferring to the following detailed description of the preferredembodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, showing that a fan impeller is to be balance-calibrated;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, showing that the fan impeller is balance-calibrated;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, showing that a weight body is added into the fan impeller orremoved from the fan impeller;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the fan impeller balance calibrating method ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 5. FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a preferredembodiment of the fan impeller balance calibrating method of the presentinvention. According to the preferred embodiment, the fan impellerbalance calibrating method of the present invention includes steps of:

100. placing a fan impeller 1 onto a measurement platform 2, themeasurement platform 2 having a controller 20, a speedometer device 21and a detection device 22 being arranged on the measurement platform 2for detecting the rotational speed and balance of the fan impeller 1respectively, the controller 20 receiving the data from the speedometerdevice 21 and the detection device 22 to calculate and generate adetection signal to the measurement platform 2, according to thereceived detection signal, the measurement platform 2 displayingcalibration data and rotational speed data; and

101. adding at least one weight body 3 to the fan impeller 1 or removingat least one weight body 3 from the fan impeller 1 according to thecalibration data to quickly calibrate the balance of the fan impeller 1.

In step 100, the fan impeller 1 is placed onto a test section 23 of themeasurement platform 2 for test (with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2). Oneface of the fan impeller 1 faces the speedometer device 21 on themeasurement platform 2, while the other face of the fan impeller 1 rightfaces the detection device 22 on the measurement platform 2. When thedynamic balance test of the fan impeller 1 starts, the speedometerdevice 21 drives the fan impeller 1 in the test section 23, whereby thespeedometer device 21 drives the fan impeller 1 to rotate and at thesame time detects the rotational speed of the fan impeller 1.Simultaneously, the detection device 22 starts to detect the balance ofthe fan impeller 1. The detection device 22 employs a flashlight toquickly judge the unbalanced angle of the fan impeller 1. The controller20 receives the rotational speed data from the speedometer device 21 andthe balance data from the detection device 22 to calculate and generatethe detection signal to the measurement platform 2. According to thereceived detection signal, a display device 24 on the measurementplatform 2 displays the calibration data and rotational speed data. Thedetection signal contains the calibration data and rotational speeddata. The controller 20 is electrically connected to the speedometerdevice 21, the detection device 22 and the display device 24.

In step 101, according to the calibration data displayed on the displaydevice 24, an operator can quickly decide the number of the weightbodies 3 added to the fan impeller 1 (with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3).In other words, in the case that the numeral of the calibration datadisplayed on the display device 24 is higher than a preset balance valueof the fan impeller 1, then the weight value of the weight bodies 3 isreduced according to the calibration data. In the case that the numeralof the calibration data displayed on the display device 24 is lower thanthe preset balance value of the fan impeller 1, then the weight value ofthe weight bodies 3 is increased according to the calibration data. Inthe conventional calibrating method, it is necessary to repeatedlyperform the dynamic balance test to the unbalanced side of the fanimpeller until the fan impeller 1 is totally balanced. Therefore, theconventional calibrating method is laborious, time-consuming andcomplicated. In contrast, in the present invention, the calibration dataare displayed on the display device 24 to enable an operator to quicklydecide whether the weight value of the weight bodies 3 of the fanimpeller 1 should be increased or reduced. Accordingly, the balancecalibration time is shortened and the calibration process is simplified.

The weight bodies 3 are made of hardened plastic material. The weightbodies 3 are detachably adhered to an inner side of the fan impeller 1.The weight bodies 3 have different weight values and are coupled withthe fan impeller 1 according to the numeral of the calibration datadisplayed on the display device 24 of the measurement platform 2.

In addition, it should be noted that the weight bodies 3 are in a softadhesive state when not used or used. The weight bodies 3 have betteradhesion so that when adding the weight bodies 3 into the fan impeller1, the weight bodies 3 can be quickly securely adhered to the fanimpeller 1. By means of projecting light onto the weight bodies 3, theweight bodies 3 can quickly harden to integrally combine with the fanimpeller 1. Accordingly, the balance of the fan impeller 1 can beachieved without destroying the structure of the fan impeller 1. Incontrast, in the conventional calibrating method, it is necessary toexcavate a part of the fan impeller for achieving the balance of the fanimpeller. In comparison with the conventional balance calibratingmethod, the balance calibration time of the present invention isshortened and the calibration process is simplified to greatly prolongthe lifetime of the fan.

In conclusion, in comparison with the conventional balance calibratingmethod, the present invention has the following advantages:

-   -   1. The calibration process is simplified.    -   2. The lifetime of the fan is greatly prolonged.    -   3. The balance calibration time is shortened.

The present invention has been described with the above embodimentsthereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in theabove embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scopeand the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only bythe appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fan impeller balance calibrating methodcomprising steps of: placing a fan impeller onto a measurement platform,the measurement platform having a controller, a speedometer device and adetection device being arranged on the measurement platform fordetecting the rotational speed and balance of the fan impellerrespectively, the controller receiving data from the speedometer deviceand the detection device to calculate and generate a detection signal tothe measurement platform, according to the received detection signal,the measurement platform displaying calibration data and rotationalspeed data; and adding at least one weight body to the fan impeller orremoving at least one weight body from the fan impeller according to thecalibration data to quickly calibrate the balance of the fan impeller.2. The fan impeller balance calibrating method as claimed in claim 1,wherein the detection device employs a flashlight to judge theunbalanced angle of the fan impeller.
 3. The fan impeller balancecalibrating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the detection signalcontains the calibration data and the rotational speed data.
 4. The fanimpeller balance calibrating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein theweight bodies are coupled with the fan impeller according to the numeralof the calibration data displayed by the measurement platform.
 5. Thefan impeller balance calibrating method as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe weight bodies have different weight values.
 6. The fan impellerbalance calibrating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the casethat the numeral of the calibration data is higher than a preset balancevalue of the fan impeller, then the weight value of the weight bodies isreduced.
 7. The fan impeller balance calibrating method as claimed inclaim 1, wherein in the case that the numeral of the calibration data islower than a preset balance value of the fan impeller, then the weightvalue of the weight bodies is increased.
 8. The fan impeller balancecalibrating method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the weight bodies aremade of hardened plastic material and detachably adhered to an innerside of the fan impeller.